Mike Wolfe
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Mike Wolfe was the elected mayor of Stoke on Trent from 2002, until coming fourth out of eight in his bid for re-election in May 2005 where a record 9,600 people defaced their ballot papers.
Wolfe was born in Yorkshire. After working in London he came to North Staffordshire in 1980, as Chief Executive of Stoke-on-Trent Citizens Advice Bureau. During that period Mike was also involved in a wide range of other voluntary organisations including North Staffordshire Racial Equality Council, Staffordshire Housing Association and,as the founder Chair, the North Staffordshire Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Community Forum. He was Vice Chair of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux for four years.
Wolfe was the driving force behind the campaign to bring in a system of having a directly-elected Mayor with a city manager for Stoke-on-Trent, and left the Labour Party to stand as an independent in Mayoral race of October 2002. He narrowly beat George Stevenson, a local Labour member of Parliament. Labour gained the position of Elected Mayor in the May 2005 election.